The fuel gauge on my MBG Roadster has never worked since I got the car. It has always climbed to about a third full and stayed there, irrespective of the amount of fuel in the tank.
Now that the weather has improved, with some trepidation, I decided to do something about it. I haven’t done anything more complicated than wash and polish a car for over 30 years, so I’m a little out of practice.
I wasn’t certain if the fuel tank sender unit was at fault, but a hunch and a bit of research made me think it probably was. The part was only £20 from the MG Owners Club, so I decided it was worth a punt.
It turned out to be a really easy job. I had to syphon the fuel from the tank first, using a hand pump I bought for a few quid from Amazon. Which beats getting a mouth full of petrol.
A quick spray of WD-40 made the retaining ring really easy to remove, despite a lot of rust and grime around the area. Just a few light taps with a hammer and screw driver. I didn’t even have to jack the car up to get to it.
As you can see from the photo above, the old unit was looking very sorry for itself. The part where the arm joins the unit had become clogged with debris and was stuck in position, hence the gauge only reading one level. A quick tug soon freed it up, and it probably would have worked again, but there was no way I was going to put that rusty old thing back in my tank.
The new unit is now in place and the gauge is reading the correct fuel level. A good result for my first non-cosmetic job on the car!
